Less than 20% of the NBA season remains, but unlike some years, a high number of playoff races could go right down to the wire.

Houston and Golden State are slugging it out for the league’s best record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. It should be an epic battle.

Behind those two powerhouses, the West is wide open. Portland and New Orleans have used sizable winning streaks to vault ahead of the competition, but write off San Antonio at your peril (rinse and repeat this statement every year) and Oklahoma City remains loaded with talent.

Minnesota is in tough thanks to the injury to Jimmy Butler. Utah has been surging, largely thanks to its defence, Denver has been propelled by its offence, while the Clippers are still lurking in search of the final spot.

In the East, Toronto and Boston continue to jockey for No. 1 status, with Cleveland likely being too far behind to make a legitimate charge. Milwaukee, Miami and Philadelphia would each present more competition compared to typical eighth seeds, depending on who falls to that spot.

Indiana continues to be the biggest overachiever, Detroit and Charlotte are in dire straits and nobody really knows what Washington will be once John Wall re-enters the picture. It should be an interesting final stretch, except for the five teams in each conference already completely out of the mix.

SECONDARY RACE HEATS UP

Let’s be frank. Barring an injury, Houston’s James Harden is going to win the MVP award after finishing second last year.

However, that doesn’t mean we should overlook the ridiculous performances a handful of other players are turning in on a nightly basis.

Last week in this space we discussed Anthony Davis turning into Godzilla. Since then, New Orleans has pushed its winning streak to eight games and Davis has kept on rolling. He’d averaged 35 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and 2.6 steals a game over his past five, yet, somehow covering even more ground on defence than he did before DeMarcus Cousins was lost for the season. Then he shook off an injury scare and went for 41 and 13 in another win, this time over the Clippers, on Tuesday night. He even hit four three-pointers, tied for a season-high, basically, comically letting everyone know that there isn’t anything he can’t do. Davis is simply ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Portland’s Damian Lillard went 4-for-4 from three in the final five minutes of Monday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers and scored 15 straight for his team down the stretch overall. He had 37 more, including eight three-pointers in a win on Tuesday over the Knicks.

Lillard has the Blazers third in the ultra-tough West, with eight wins in a row. He’s averaged north of 34 points a game over his past 10.

“I feel like every shot is going in,” Lillard said after Monday’s performance. “I am always going to feel like when the time comes, I can make it happen.”

Apparently he can. Teammate Shabazz Napier said, “I don’t marvel at a lot of things … but today was spectacular.”

The NBA started the season earlier, cut down on back-to-backs and three-games-in-four-night slogs this year and to avoid stars being rested as often, but everything has not gone seamlessly. There have been a number of serious injuries and some players have said they think the changes to their off-season workout schedules prompted by the earlier start might be a factor.

Still, many are happy with the changes, including Golden State head coach Steve Kerr.

“The players are much more prepared to play in every game,” Kerr said. “I’ve only rested guys who are older and banged up. I haven’t felt a need to rest our guys who are in their prime. The league has done a great job with the schedule,” Kerr told reporters recently.

The schedule is not without its quirks. After largely avoiding them for weeks now, the Raptors will play a bunch of back-to-backs as the regular season winds to a close.

AROUND THE RIM

Donovan Mitchell has already scored the second-most points by a Utah rookie, behind only Karl Malone … On Monday, Memphis became the first team to play a game without a first-round pick since Utah during the 2009-10 season. Somehow, the team only lost by two points to San Antonio … Utah has only allowed 102.1 points per 100 possessions since Rudy Gobert returned from injury, by far the best mark in the league … Boston’s Marcus Smart was fined $15,000 for criticizing an official for his comments about the futility of trying to guard Harden without fouling. The league and its players are still trying to figure out how to improve relations between the referees and the players … Kerr said players who leave college early but go undrafted should be allowed to return to the NCAA. The stories of players getting bad advice and leaving early, only to not be selected are legion. “Don’t keep this ruse going,” Kerr told reporters on Monday. “We all know what’s going on. Let’s do what’s best for the kid and give them some options, and work together between the NBA and NCAA to find the right system. I think it’s entirely doable if you people just open their eyes.”

THEY THE NORTH

A quick look at the top Canadians:

Andrew Wiggins (Wolves): Production has been mixed minus Jimmy Butler.

Jamal Murray (Nuggets): Next step is cutting down his turnovers.

Cory Joseph (Pacers): Playing huge minutes and Indy keeps winning.

Dwight Powell (Mavericks): Scoring has come back down but tons of boards.

5– Detroit Pistons – Not making playoffs after dealing for Blake Griffin would look very bad for Stan Gundy and Co., but the losses are piling up.

LOVE OPENS UP ABOUT PANIC ATTACKS

NBA players have long been the most likely in team sports to speak out on issues important to them.

Usually it is about inequality or race relations, but recently, mental health has been at the forefront, and that’s a good thing.

Royce White, Channing Frye and others have talked about anxiety, depression and other mental health battles in the past, but all-stars stepping up has been a more recent development.

DeMar DeRozan opened up about his lifelong issues with depression recently and that helped fellow all-star Kevin Love, of the Cleveland Cavaliers to follow suit on Tuesday.

In a Players’ Tribune essay, Love said he suffered a panic attack during a Nov. 5 game against the Atlanta Hawks.

“It came out of nowhere. I’d never had one before,” Love wrote. “I didn’t even know if they were real. But it was real — as real a broken hand or a sprained ankle. Since that day, almost everything about the way I think about my mental health has changed.”

Love had another panic attempt this season and left a game against Oklahoma City, which led to a locker room backlash until Love explained what had happened to his teammates.

The reaction on Tuesday was quite different with LeBron James tweeting: “You’re even more powerful now than ever before @kevinlove!!! Salute and respect brother!”

The biggest benefit of high-profile players like Love and DeRozan coming forward is that it allows others dealing with similar issues to see that they aren’t alone, that they can get help and that as Love states, “It really makes you think about how we are all walking around with experiences and struggles … Mental health is an invisible thing, but it touches all of us at some point or another. It’s part of life. Like DeMar said, ‘You never know what that person is going through.’”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.